Ars Technica describes Amazon’s race to develop robotic arms, as the company opens new factories in Texas and Indiana, and the questions raised by the close coexistence of robots and 1.5 million employees.
No other organization in the world operates as many robots as Amazon: more than a million machines run continuously in its warehouses to ensure same-day or next-day deliveries. The company, which remains the second largest private employer in the world with more than 1.5 million employees, plans to further expand this fleet with new manufacturing plants in Austin, Texas and Greenwood, Indiana, in addition to its sites in Massachusetts. It all started with the acquisition of Kiva Systems in 2012, a pioneer in mobile robots that bring shelves to operators, which became Amazon Robotics.
Robots that dictate the pace
Management highlights the most strenuous and accident-prone tasks entrusted to machines, in a sector where the injury rate is usually more than double the American average. Researchers and unions qualify this assessment. Brad Greenwood, a professor at George Mason University, points out that unlike the automation of the last century, collaborative robots work in direct contact with humans and can set the tempo for them, which profoundly changes working conditions.
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